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The media’s Rob Ford secret

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is hoisted into the air by his Don Bosco Eagles team after winning the Metro Bowl quarter-final at Birchmount Park in Toronto, Thursday Nov. 15, 2012. Hurray for Rob, say the media.Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Drost

Yep, I said it. Sure, it may not seem that way with all those “progressives” holding the digital recorders at scrums, with the Toronto Star bashing his every move, with the weeklies and the web-based crews like Torontoist and Spacing dismayed by how Ford is ruining the city.

Has this city ever had such fantastic drama, the unexpected twists and turns, the tilt-a-whirl direction, and such an incredible and flawed character? No way. Even Mel Lastman, all salesman little sizzle, figured out how to manage things – when he wasn’t getting boiled in a pot on CNN – without lurching from one crisis to the next.

Who knows what he’ll say next or do next. Or what his brother, the equally flammable Doug, will say

It’s nearly impossible not to want to read or see what this man does next. Every day is more unexpected than the last, it seems. I could run through the list of lawsuits, rude gestures, bad driving, battles with the media, weight-loss debacles and high school football triumphs, but you know them already.

Still to come, the audit of the outgoing mayor’s expenses and the $6-million libel trial. Will the fun ever end? Ivor Tossell, who wrote an e-book about Ford called The Gift of Ford must be thankful it’s an e-book and can be added to almost effortlessly. This story is far from over. This really is the gift that keeps on giving.

And who knows what he’ll say next or do next. Or what his brother, the equally flammable Doug, Ward 2 councillor, will say.

And that’s why the media loves Rob Ford. Monday’s ruling by the judge strained the content management systems of websites across Canada. One editor exclaimed “We broke Chartbeat,” the tool many companies use to monitor who is looking at our sites. Our readers ate up every morsel of Ford coverage – whether at Canada.com or the Star or the Globe, everyone reported phenomenal traffic. We couldn’t keep up.

Our friends at the Edmonton Journal have reported for months that Rob Ford stories do better in Edmonton than stories featuring their mayor.

So, Rob Ford, many happy returns. When you’re in charge, the story never ends.